Actuarial Studies Co-op Program

Attract the brightest minds in actuarial studies

Our Actuarial Studies Co-op program is a highly competitive course in which high-achieving students alternate between classroom studies and workplace experience in the form of three placements of three to six months each.

Students in the Co-op Actuarial Studies program complete a Bachelor of Actuarial Studies with Professional Practice (Honours).

By offering talented students professional experience within your workplace, you’ll not only gain fresh perspectives from the brightest young minds, but also foster their comprehensive education and career preparation.

Macquarie’s Actuarial studies co-op program has provided me the opportunity to gain invaluable experiences in the workforce while I am still pursuing my undergraduate studies. Through this ability to network with professionals, I have been taught many priceless interpersonal skills that I can utilise in both my professional and daily life.

Program structure

Students alternate between classroom studies and workplace experience. During the four-year course, they engage in three placements:

one placement of up to three months
two longer placements of up to six months.

These workplace experiences will offer opportunities for students to develop professional skills and networks and bring their practical experience back to the classroom to further enhance their studies.

Students will graduate with:

practical knowledge
strong professional networks
enhanced employability in their chosen field.

Co-op students are selected based on academic merit and an assessment of their motivation, qualities and skills.

Partners will be invited to join the Co-op Program selection process each year.

Student applications are open from April to September.

The Actuarial Co-op program relies on support from partners.

Partners have the opportunity to support students financially through a sponsorship package that helps them during their four-year course.

Partners provide scholarship funding of $22,000 plus GST per annum over four years to support one place in a cohort.

Students receive a scholarship of $21,600 per year for the duration of the four-year course, with the remaining $400 used to cover participation in mutually beneficial Co-op events.

Partners can support one or more student places in a cohort and can sponsor consecutive or alternate cohorts. In addition to contributing to a scholarship fund, sponsors host three students from a cohort on placements.

The table below gives an overview of the sequencing for placements in the Actuarial Studies Co-op program:

Year	Summer vacation (Jan–Feb)	Session 1 (Mar–Jun)	Winter vacation (Jul)	Session 2 (Aug–Nov)	Session 3/Summer vacation (Dec)
1st		Study		Study	Placement 1 begins
2nd	Placement 1 ends	Study		Study
3rd	Placement 2 begins	Placement 2	Placement 2 ends Placement 3 begins	Placement 3	Placement 3 ends
4th		Study		Study

All placements shown above are indicative timeframes only. Exact placement dates are determined in negotiation with sponsor organisations.

The professional practice component of the program consists of four units taken over the course of the four-year Co-op program.

Year	1st year Session 2	1st year Session 3	3rd year Session 1	3rd year Session 2
Unit code	PROF1000	PROF2000	PROF3000	PROF4000
Unit name	Introduction to Professional Practice	Professional Practice Placement 1	Professional Practice Placement 2	Advanced Professional Practice and Reflection
Delivery	Classroom-based, career identity, professional expectations	In coordination with three-month placement	In coordination with six-month placement	In coordination with six-month placement
Credit points	10 cp	10 cp	30 cp	30 cp

Our partners

To find out how you can engage with our brightest students, contact the Macquarie Business School on mqbs-engagement@mq.edu.au.

We’re delighted to be partnering with the following organisations for the Actuarial Studies Co-op program.